The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four publicresearch universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in London and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to government and parliament; nineteen smaller British research universities formed the 1994 Group in response, which was disbanded in 2013.[1] In 2010, Russell Group members received approximately two-thirds of all university research grant and contract income in the United Kingdom.[2] The group is widely perceived as representing the best universities in the country, although whether this is true is disputed.[3]

Russell Group members award 60% of all doctorates gained in the United Kingdom,[4] and over 30% of all students studying in the United Kingdom from outside the EU.[2] In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, 68% of world-leading (4*) research and 68% of research with an outstanding (4*) impact was carried out in Russell Group universities.[5] Of the 21 Russell Group universities that have chosen to enter the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), 10 hold gold awards (48%), 10 silver (48%) and one bronze (5%), compared to proportions across all higher education providers with full awards of 27% gold, 50% silver and 23% bronze.[6]

The Russell Group was formed in 1994 by 18 British research universities – Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, Queen Mary, Leeds, Liverpool, London School of Economics, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, University College London and Warwick. In 1998 Cardiff University and King's College London joined the group.[8] In March 2001 the Russell Group decided against selecting a preferred option for the future funding of higher education, stating that endowments, a graduate contribution, increased public funding and top-up fees should all remain options.[9] In December 2005 it was announced that the Russell Group would be appointing its first full-time director-general as a result of a planned expansion of its operations, including commissioning and conducting its own policy research.[10] In November 2006 Queen's University Belfast was admitted as the twentieth member of the group.[11] In the same month Wendy Piatt, the then deputy director in the Prime Minister's strategy unit, was announced as the group's new Director General and chief executive.[11]

In March 2012 it was announced that four universities – Durham, Exeter, Queen Mary University of London; and York – would become members of the Russell Group in August of the same year.[7] All of the new members had previously been members of the 1994 Group of British universities.[7]

In January 2013 it was announced that the Russell Group would establish an academic board to advise the English exams watchdog Ofqual on the content of A-Levels.[12]

create a regulatory environment in which it can achieve these objectives by reducing government interference; and

identify ways to co-operate to exploit the universities' collaborative advantage.[2]

It works towards these objectives by lobbying the UK government and parliament; commissioning reports and research; creating a forum in which its member institutions can discuss issues of common concern; and identify opportunities for them to work together.

In 2015/16, following the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the 19 English universities with HEFCE research funding allocations (excluding transitional funding) in excess of £20 million were all members of the Russell Group. The only English Russell Group institution to receive an allocation below £20M was the LSE (£18.6M), which ranked 22nd behind the Universities of Leicester and Lancaster (both on £19M).[18]

In 2010/11, 19 of the 20 UK universities with the highest income from research grants and contracts were members of the Russell Group.[19] In terms of total research funding allocations from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2007/8, the top 15 universities were all Russell Group institutions.[20]LSE was 21st, due to its focus on less costly social sciences research. Queen's University Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh, were not included in this table, as they are not English institutions. The Russell Group institutions received 82% of the total HEFCE research funding allocation.[20]

The research funding figures depend on factors other than the quality of research, in particular there are variations due to institutional size and subject spread (e.g. science, technology and medicine tend to attract more money).

For 2015–16, all 8 UK universities in the ARWU top 100,[23] 17 of the 18 in the QS top 100,[24] and 15 of the 16 in the THE top 100[25] are members of the Russell Group (the other place in both the QS and THE rankings being occupied by the University of St Andrews). On the 2016 national tables, the Russell Group provides 7 of the top 10 in the Complete University Guide, 6 in the Guardian University Guide and 8 in the Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide.

All but two of the universities in the Russell Group are part of the Sutton Trust's group of 30 highly selective universities, the Sutton Trust 30 (the absent members being Queen Mary University of London and Queen's University Belfast).[29] The Sutton 13 group of the 13 most highly selective universities only includes one non-Russell Group member, the University of St Andrews.[30] St Andrews was also the only non-Russell Group University in the top 10 by average UCAS tariff score of new undergraduate students in 2015–16, placing fifth with an average score of 525 (and an offer rate of 52.2%).[31] Half of the Russell Group made offers to more than three quarter of their undergraduate applicants in 2015.[32]

Notes:a The average UCAS tariff achieved by new students entering the university in 2017. This is based on qualifications achieved, for example A-levels: A* = 56, A = 48, B = 40 UCAS points; AS level: A = 20, B = 16, C = 12. [34]b The average offer rate for 18-year old June deadline applicants in 2017.

The Russell Group accounted for 49.1% of the income of the higher education sector in the UK in 2013–14, having risen from 44.7% of the total in 2001–02. Over the same period the total income of Russell Group universities rose by 69.9% in real terms, compared to a sector average of 54.4%.[35] Russell Group universities are also seen as "particularly creditworthy" due to their membership of the group, allowing them to borrow money at low interest rates.[36]

The total annual income for Russell Group members for 2016–17 was £16.67 billion of which £4.38 billion was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £15.90 billion. The table below is a record of each Russell Group member's financial data for the 2016–17 financial year.

In response to the Russell Group's support for tuition fees (and other issues), in 1994 the students' unions of the member universities formed the Aldwych Group[61] as a parallel organisation to represent what they perceive to be the common interests of their students. It was established by Martin Lewis (who was general secretary of LSE Students' Union in 1994/5) as a watchdog in response to the creation of the Russell Group.[62][63][64] It now appears to be moribund, with the website not having been updated to reflect the 2012 changes in membership of the Russell Group and containing no news items or press releases.[65][66]

In a statement to the Higher Education Policy Institute, David Watson of the University of Oxford suggested that the Russell Group’s claim to represent 24 'leading universities' was "a real stretch". In the context of the Russell Group's reputation in the sector, he continued: "particularly dangerous, I think, is the bottom half of the Russell Group…The problem with the Russell Group is that it represents neither the sector as a whole [nor], in many cases, the best of the sector.” Performance in research intensity showed that there were dozens of other UK universities “above the bottom Russellers”.[67]

Ant Bagshaw from the Wonkhe think-tank has criticised the use of Russell Group membership as a proxy for selectivity in official Department for Education reports and statistics, as better measures of selectivity are available from UCAS data. He states that the idea that "Russell Group membership is synonymous with 'best'" is "persistent, but unverified". He also notes that this may lead to less scrutiny of the performance of non-Russell Group selective universities with respect to widening participation and improving access.[70]

The Institute of Economic Affairs has argued that the Russell Group acts out of protectionist interests. It is claimed that this will "restrict competition, discourage innovation and encourage inefficiency, thereby depriving students of lower prices and/or greater choice".[71]

The Russell Group has been prominent in recent years in the debate over the introduction of tuition fees, a measure which it has strongly supported – much to the dismay of the universities' students' unions. Indeed, members of the Group argued that even the fees proposed by the controversial Higher Education Bill would not be sufficient to cover the rising cost of undergraduate teaching, and successfully argued for the right to charge variable fees at much higher rates, so-called top-up fees.[citation needed]

^Zoë Corbyn (25 March 2010). "Data disprove case for distributing research funds on historical basis". Times Higher Education. The analysis, due to be published on 25 March, uses citation data to show that when the five "golden-triangle" institutions – the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and the London School of Economics – are removed from the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities, the 1994 Group of smaller research-led universities outperforms it.